Download The Great Transition refers to the changes that human societies

The Great Transition refers to the changes that human societies
around the world will make as they move to a state of social,
economic and environmental sustainability. Most scientists now
believe that continuation with “business as usual” is a formula for
future human disaster. “Business as usual” is characterised by an
ever growing human population and an ever growing economy that
is fuelled by endless consumption of “stuff” and supported by the
burning of pollution-producing fossil fuels and destruction of the
natural environment. Urgent change must now occur to the way we
generate energy and use it and about the way we work and live with
the environment on which we all depend (see also the2020 Vision
resource on the Great Transition and Plan B).
In Canberra, the decision to reduce carbon emissions by about 60%
by the year 2020 will require substantial changes in the way the city
develops and the way all of us live our lives. There is now firm
understanding about what we need to do and how it can be
accomplished. One of the things that stands in the way of us doing
it is discomfort and fear of change.
Our entire human world is changing rapidly. We need only to look at
what has happened across the world in Queensland, New Zealand and
the Middle East in the early months of 2011 to recognise that “change is
in the air”.
Most of us are uncomfortable with rapid change from what we have
Have students view the UTube presentation on
transformative change by Jan
Rochstrom (below). Get them to
write an essay or poem about
keeping on with “business as
usual”.
. Prepare a visual
become accustomed to, especially if we do not understand where the
change could be leading. That is partly why communities around the
world are nervous about the changes being advocated with respect to
carbon emissions. The aim of this module is to support teachers in the
task of helping young children to see the changes associated with
reducing our carbon emissions as an opportunity rather than as a
constraint. It also seeks to help give children confidence that we can
deal with change and produce a better future.
demonstration of either a
naturally occurring or a manmade complex adaptive system.
Use the demonstration to
illustrate your understanding of
the terms resilience and
transformation. The system
could be the human respiratory
We are dealing here with a number of quite sophisticated concepts,
which teachers need to be comfortable discussing with their students. A
number of resources are available to clarify these concepts. It is these
concepts that will play a key role in how quickly and adequately
Canberra responds to the challenge of reducing its carbon emissions.
: Psychologists repeatedly refer to the need for people
system or the economic system.
to believe they can tackle a problem effectively as an essential aid to
The aim of the visual
overcoming fear and discomfort of the unknown. If we believe tackling a
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2020Vision
Teaching Resources: Years 7-12
problem is impossible we often would prefer to ignore the problem. If
we believe we know how to negotiate the obstacles that we know are
present, we are much more comfortable moving down a new path.
This is the state of feeling powerful and capable of
taking action. It is linked to the concept of self-efficacy. Most of us
tend to feel impotent in the face of global challenges such as that of
sustainability. An empowered person is one who understands an issue
and feels confident taking action on it.” Never doubt that a small
demonstration should be to
group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed,
make clear issues such as
it is the only thing that ever has."-Margaret Mead.
feedback loops and the relation
: This has been defined as an approach to
of systems above and below the
problem solving, by viewing "problems" as parts of an overall system,
system of interest.
rather than reacting to specific parts, outcomes or events and
. Prepare a group sketch or
thereby, possibly contributing to further development of unintended
play of no more than 5min. in
consequences. Systems thinking is not one thing but a set of habits or
length that can be videotaped
practices within a framework that is based on the belief that the
to illustrate the importance of
component parts of a system can best be understood in the context
self-efficacy in handling change.
of relationships with each other and with other systems, rather than in
isolation. Systems thinking focuses on cyclical rather than linear cause
and effect (Wikipedia)
: The People Power Revolution was a series of popular
Write a 3000 word essay
about Changing the World from
nonviolent revolutions and prayerful mass street demonstrations in
“business as usual”.
the Philippines that occurred in 1986, which marked the restoration of
Have the students view the
58 min. YouTube presentation
by David Korten (below) about
the need to change the
economic system. Hold a class
debate about the topic “we
won’t control climate change
until we change the way the
economy works”. Prepare a
5min. video of the two
outstanding speakers.
Make a cartoon or comic
strip about the difficulty of
changing from what we are
accustomed to.
that country's democracy. It became a subsequent inspiration for the
Revolutions of 1989that ended communist dictatorships in Eastern
Europe. These protests were the culmination of a long campaign of
civil
resistance
by
the
people
against
the
20-year
running
authoritarian, repressive regime of then president Ferdinand Marcos
and made news headlines as "the revolution that surprised the world"
(Wikipedia). Similar people power movements have been evident in the
Middle East in recent months as growing numbers of people have felt
empowered to act to terminate an unacceptable system of oppressive
government.
Resilience is a term being applied increasingly to
complex adaptive systems, which abound both in nature and in
human society. A resilient system is one that can adapt to external
shocks without losing its essential functions. Sometimes a system
may be exposed to a shock of such magnitude that a key element of
the system reaches a tipping point. As a result of this the system
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changes or transforms. At this point, it takes on new functions and
operates differently. Resilience is not always a desirable attribute.
Sometimes, there is a need to transform systems that are resistant to
change. Generally however it is the resilience of complex systems that
keeps nature and human society on a steady course.
Sometimes it takes a very small change to lead to a
change in a system. It is a bit like an animal teetering on the edge of a
cliff. A tiny push will launch it over the edge with disastrous
consequences. This applies to all sorts of systems including the
systems that control our society. If greenhouse gases accumulate
sufficiently in our atmosphere, they could reach the point where a tiny
further increase could tip the climate system into chaos. We often talk
about key tipping points leading to transformational change
A resilient system is one that keeps adapting to
the changes and shocks around it. Once a tipping point occurs as a
result of a transforming shock or change, the system becomes a new
system. It is like a caterpillar being transformed into a butterfly.
Some critical changes can lead to desirable transformation in a
system while others can lead to wholly undesirable new system.
The full implications of the current climate change debate are poorly
understood in the Australian community. While most Australians
understand that the climate is changing they do not share with the
climate scientists a comprehensive understanding of the seriousness
of the situation if the world does not reduce quite drastically its
greenhouse gas emissions.
The ACT government has recognized the seriousness of the situation
and has established an ambitious target for the ACT community for
the year 2020. Meeting this target will require broad community
commitment to change, not only in the source of our electricity but in
the way we eat and the things on which we spend our money. Change
is however never easy. Creating amongst children a flexibility of
attitude to change towards sustainability is the key objective of this
module.
The pieces of the jigsaw relating to the future of the world are no
longer consistent with a viable future for much of the human species.
But the good news is that we are almost certainly approaching a
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2020Vision
Change is
constant, yet
often we fight it.
How can we view
Teaching Resources: Years 7-12
global tipping point where conventional wisdom about the current
adequacy of a number of our human systems including especially our
economic system will be rejected and replaced with a new model.
We are an intelligent species and are fully capable of developing a
new mindset that is more attuned to the limitations that the
environment is placing on us. Many of our complex adaptive systems
are devised by humans and are capable of being changed. That will
the challenge of
climate change
and the changes
happen if the predominant mindset of the population changes. We
need to take steps to ensure that such a shift in mindset comes about
and the tipping point could occur as a result of the determined
actions of less than a quarter of the population.
science is telling
us we must make,
as an opportunity
1. We now recognise that many of the activities that are part of our
daily lives are producing greenhouse gases that are contributing to
global warming.
rather than a
catastrophe?
2. We know how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and it means
we will have to change some of the things we have got used to.
3. That includes changing some of our favourite food habits, some of
the things we spend money on and paying particular attention to the
way we generate the energy that we all tend to take for granted.
4. Some of the things we need to change include growing more of our
own food, reducing waste, using our cars less and understanding
more about our ecological footprint and how we can reduce it.
5. We know we can do these things and that by doing them we will be
building a better future for everyone.
6. Knowing that we can manage something gets us a long way down
the path of doing it.
A 9 minute U tube presentation on Transformative Change by Johan
Rochstrom. Strongly recommended for Teachers and high school and
college students:
http://rs.resalliance.org/2010/08/31/johan-rockstrom-at-ted-onplanetary-boundaries/
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What are the scientific facts about climate change? Report by the
Australian Academy of Science.
http://www.science.org.au/reports/climatechange2010.pdf
The world’s ecological Footprint. Why we must change.
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/footprint_
basics_overview
A 58-minute U tube presentation by David Korten about the need to
change the way we manage the world’s economy. Suitable for upper
high school and college students, especially those undertaking
environmental and economic subjects.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdsZ_lLz07Q
Website on the Millennium Development Goals embarked on by the
United Nations in 2000 to which all countries are signatories
http://www.undp.org/mdg/basics.shtml
The world obesity system. A map of the systems that are considered
to be
interacting
to
produce
a
global
epidemic
of
obesity:
http://www.shiftn.com/obesity/Full-Map.html
Malcolm Gladwell has written an entertaining book about how
changes in the way people think about the world take place.
http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.html He described in
some detail, the factors which lead communities and groups to a
"tipping point" when they are influenced by new ideas or actions and
now see the world through different eyes and behave in new ways.
Gladwell goes on to point out that change can occur quite quickly as a
result of a relatively small proportion of the population accepting the
validity of the new idea or embracing the new fashion. The figure may
be as low as 20% of the population being enough to effect quite
dramatic changes in behaviour of the majority. What particularly
matters according to Gladwell is the "stickiness" or attractiveness of
the idea and the personal characteristics of the people who are
involved in promoting and disseminating it.
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